I've long been interested in the Stick and have a few questions for the group. Some of my influences on the Stick are Tony Levin, Trey Gunn, and Tom Griesgraber. I come from a Fripp / Guitar Craft background, and play guitar, keyboards and bass.

- Is it worth considering other brands? I know Trey is a fan of Warr Guitars, but it looks like they're currently not making new guitars, though have some upcoming announcement.

Outside of considering another brand, I'm set on the 12-string Grand Stick, likely in rosewood, but had some questions:

- For pickups, is there any strong advantage to the ACTV-2 over the Stickup? The "shim" covering the ACTV-2 pickup for the low bass strings seems a bit hokey. Maybe the Stickup is "good enough"?

- For tuning, I'm thinking the Classic is the best place to start. Any strong objections?

- For string gauge, I use Medium on guitar & bass. Should I stay with Medium as well on the Stick?

Ultimately, I guess I'm looking for recommendations on the best options to choose for a Stick for a newbie, so I'm not quickly kicking myself, "I should have.... x y x". I'm not too worried about the price.

Thanks,

Mark

MarkF786,

Perhaps you know that Warr Guitars never stopped production. While Mark Warr dealt with illness, the Warr Guitar luthier Pete at Hanewinckel Guitars was put in charge of production.
Now that Mark is prototyping a new design it seems there are changes coming up, but Pete will continue to build touchguitars, perhaps not the classic Warr Guitar designs, but certainly designs similar to the classic Warr Guitars.
Contact Pete for details if interested.

The 'Touch Guitars' brand of instruments are designed by a Guitar Craft Fripp student, and come in Crafty tunings as standard. Also worth considering.

Both the above brands are much more like guitars, and are very different to Sticks, so it should be clear which type of design is more suitable for you.

Stick Enterprises have a complete range of string gauges and can provide an instrument set up in, and string sets for, any possible tuning. I would have thought you would prefer fifths or a Crafty tuning on the melody side?
The way you write "For tuning, I'm thinking the Classic is the best place to start." implies you are feeling uncertain about the tuning? I suggest using the type of tuning you prefer for your guitars.

Hi Mark,

Coming from a multi-instrument background, and not too long ago facing the same kinds of questions that you are facing, here are some basic considerations for you to ponder:

First off, a Stick is not a guitar, a piano, or a percussion instrument. It is kind of all of these, and yet really not any of them. Like many / most of the established players have said, if you approach playing the Stick as a "guitar glued to a bass", you'll keep hitting your head on a wall. IMO, it's best to take a clean slate view: a Stick is a Stick.

Warr guitars and the like are also tapping instruments, but they have their own unique characteristics and are their own instruments: it's best not to view them as different "Stick manufacturers". A caveat: each of these has its own fanbase, and some fans - and the makers themselves - get pretty zealous about defending their instrument's "superiority". Add some substantial friction between the makers in the past, and it might be wise to take some of the "this is the best brand" with a grain of salt.

You're also coming to an instrument with a pretty-small player base, and even smaller amount of printed self-study material. Sticks can be reconfigured for different tunings (for the most part: the rails (frets) are shaved assuming that the bass strings are in the center - moving these would be more problematic). However, you'll generally get the most ready coverage of printed material when you stick with the older tunings (Classic being the original).

String gauges don't really translate across instruments, since Stick strings are designed for the Stick specifically. There are positives and negatives between the three gauges, but again these come down to preference of sound and feel, and Sticks can be reconfigured if you want to switch string gauges. I personally just went "middle of the road" for mine.

"My thoughts".
I use D'Addario medium strings on basses. (and med. on guitar also, but I don't "play" guitar per se, I do "Joni Mitchell" tunings and fart around). So I was happy to find Emmett uses that manufacturer. I use mediums on Stick.
To get the "Tony Levin sound" you need the Stickup. BTW Tony plays Classic tuning, but tunes strings to his liking. Example: Tune string 6 "down" from C# to C and it's an octave above string 7 C. Octaves w/ one finger.
Classic in 12 strings gives you one string lower than 10 string, (10 string Baritone) and one string higher in bass. Which is easily tuned down to "High Bass 4th. I have never broken a string going back-and-forth. I love that extra bass string.
That said, I got my 12-string Bamboo tuned in DBR, with the PASV4. I also have an ACTV2 that I can switch out. (Thank you Kevin Keith).
I have tried most of the tunings on this Stick, minus the 4ths in bass tuning, because I love the 5ths in bass. I always wind up back at DBR. It just works for me. "A man's got to know his limitations".
I may some day get a Stickup for my Stick. With the pickup cavity cut for "The Block", it would fit, with a little fabrication. Doesn't work the other way around.
STICKS RULE. Biased. I hardly ever touch a bass. Lot's of colors with 12 strings.

Throwing in my two pennies...

I'm also a fan of Levin, and the "classic" Stick sound in general, so with my instrument (a standard 10-string Stick in rosewood) I went with the Stickup. I also went with the matched reciprocal tuning as it made more logical sense to my particular brain wiring. Also, I chose light gauge strings as I also come from a bass and guitar background, and I prefer extra light strings on those instruments; I really like to pull and twang 'em. I was aware Stick strings have a much lower tension to begin with, so I was just slightly concerned they might be just a little *too* slinky, but I can honestly say they felt 100% perfect the moment I first put my fingers on them, absolutely nailed the feel I was hoping for.

I've been looking to get a new tapper and I'm wondering what you mean by Touch Guitars and Warr Guitars being a lot more guitar-like than Sticks are? The U10 and Warr Guitars can both be tuned in your standard Stick tuning (it is even one of the suggested tunings for the U10 on their website). If you get it in that EADGC|F#BEAD tuning is it still more guitar like for other reasons I am unaware of? Does it have to do with the sound or the way you hold them or something? I know the most famous players of them happen to be advocates for Fripp's style of guitar playing, but they also both originally played Chapman Sticks too

That applies much more to Railboards.

I have totally rearanged my 2009 12 string bamboo from Classic to an uncrossed parallel tuning. So, my thinnest string is now at 7, where the thickest use to be. No problem.

I have just (early Feb 2024) received (after a 28 month wait) a brand new 12 string bamboo that was set up by Grace for the same tuning and I see no noticable difference in the rails.

Railboards however have 'scalloping' relief scooped out at the initial machining/milling stage according one of several designated string grouping according to where the thick strings are in that grouping. The scalloping is enough that it's easy to see in some images. I remember finding a great example image of this. If I remember where I'll post it (or link to it).

I refer to the body (which also affects the tone and sustain), the string spacing taper, the fretboard radius, the ability to quickly rotate them to a guitar playing angle when on a strap, the ability to support them on your leg like a guitar when sitting.

Half of those things are optional. If anything it makes it sound like maybe there are some features they have that the Stick is lacking. Then again, I always find myself scratching my head trying to figure out why TG and Warr are magically $2000+ more than a Stick.